So basically I was a hot mess in 1st year and scraped through the course with a D grade. yay. I've really been trying to get my **** together this year but I've been struggling a lot, especially with the maths component of the course- I still don't really know/understand last year's maths, never mind this year's.

I really want to change this and have been trying to work through the maths textbook and go over stuff from last year but it is a very slow process and I'm still not really understanding it. My problem is though that I don't know who to go to for help? Surely I can't go to our 2nd year maths lecturer's office hours and say I literally haven't understood anything since I got to uni?

Sorry if this is long winded, i'm a joint honours student with deadlines coming up in both courses and kinda freaking out. I just want to feel like I am actually competent enough for my course for once. Basically my question is how to be able to cope with maths/econ and who should i go to for help?

(Original post by RiceCakes)
So basically I was a hot mess in 1st year and scraped through the course with a D grade. yay. I've really been trying to get my **** together this year but I've been struggling a lot, especially with the maths component of the course- I still don't really know/understand last year's maths, never mind this year's.

I really want to change this and have been trying to work through the maths textbook and go over stuff from last year but it is a very slow process and I'm still not really understanding it. My problem is though that I don't know who to go to for help? Surely I can't go to our 2nd year maths lecturer's office hours and say I literally haven't understood anything since I got to uni?

Sorry if this is long winded, i'm a joint honours student with deadlines coming up in both courses and kinda freaking out. I just want to feel like I am actually competent enough for my course for once. Basically my question is how to be able to cope with maths/econ and who should i go to for help?

Thanks in advance

Hey there,

To start with, can I ask which topics in particular that you're finding difficult? Different unis do things their own way so it helps if there are specific things that we can help out with.

If it's primarily the Maths aspect of the course that you're finding hard, TSR has a very active Maths subsection that can point you towards the right direction. It doesn't matter if you're not studying a pure Maths degree, it's perfectly fine to ask questions related to that stuff there. If it's quite econ-related, like econometrics or stuff like profit maximising equations or whatever, you can post here as well. I can try and see if I can clarify.

Other than that, I can only give generic advice like making full use of the contact hours that you have with your lecturers if you don't understand something. Give the problem a go first! If you don't know where you're going wrong, they'll likely explain where you need to correct or at the very least nudge you towards the solution. Even if you don't feel like you learnt anything in the first year, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get the basics going which they'll be fine with.

To start with, can I ask which topics in particular that you're finding difficult? Different unis do things their own way so it helps if there are specific things that we can help out with.

If it's primarily the Maths aspect of the course that you're finding hard, TSR has a very active Maths subsection that can point you towards the right direction. It doesn't matter if you're not studying a pure Maths degree, it's perfectly fine to ask questions related to that stuff there. If it's quite econ-related, like econometrics or stuff like profit maximising equations or whatever, you can post here as well. I can try and see if I can clarify.

Other than that, I can only give generic advice like making full use of the contact hours that you have with your lecturers if you don't understand something. Give the problem a go first! If you don't know where you're going wrong, they'll likely explain where you need to correct or at the very least nudge you towards the solution. Even if you don't feel like you learnt anything in the first year, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get the basics going which they'll be fine with.

Hi, thanks for your reply! I posted this mid breakdown and looking back its pretty embarrassing Thank you for the advice you posted- will defos come in handy! I'm going to a lecturer's office hours tomorrow to help me understand some readings I don't quite get and I'm going to ask my tutor to help me with the maths next time I see him! Hopefully with a bit of extra work, my grades will be looking better
Thanks again- I really appreciate it!